TIE Fighter was a technical showpiece back in the day too. You could take that game, give it a HD graphics engine and not touch anything else and it’d be fantastic. It’s definitely hard to separate that top three but KotOR’s actual gameplay has dated quite a bit, while TIE Fighter still feels amazing, just the graphics have dated it. If you think I’ve left out anything that’s particularly worth mentioning, let me know. I’ve also just given the first system (or systems) that a game appeared on, rather than list various conversions.

For the sake of my sanity (and your precious time), handheld and mobile games are out, along with pinball, browser games, TV games, expansion packs (remember those?), that Star Wars game that was only ever released in Japan, and anything branded as ‘edutainment’. *OK, not quite EVERY Star Wars game ever. But it’s the brilliant supporting cast that really stick in the memory, from poor, naive Mission Vao to the hilariously ruthless assassin droid HK-47: “It is my primary function to burn holes through meatbags that you wish removed from the galaxy.” KOTOR gave you the Star Wars universe to explore, and the story and characters were engaging and well written enough to make you feel part of it and believe that it was worth saving – something that precious few Star Wars games have achieved. The twist still stands out as utterly brilliant all these years later.

Battlefront 2 dark times